Dr. Shutain Franken
Dr. Schtein Franken (不乱拳酒多飲博士, Shutain Furanken-hakase) is a recurring antagonist throughout the Tetsujin 28 franchise. He is the creator of Black Ox, often being a tragic character, especially in the 2004 series. In the English dubbed version of the 1980s series (New Gigantor dub), he was named Professor Graybeard. In the Manga and 1960's Series Franken, who had formerly been Dr. Kaneda's colleague, usually builds Black Ox as a rebutal to Tetsujin. He is very close with the robot and has equipped it with many different tricks. He belittles Shotaro quite often and tries to stay above the law, yet comes to a tragic fall at some point. Franken was known as Dr. Blackdog in the 1960's series, to correspond with Black Ox's name, but this is only in the Japanese version. In the 1980 Series Unlike the original version, Franken only appeared twice in the 1980s series. In the 34th episode, Franken is with the X gang and he is likely volunteered to do the brain transfer for Black Ox due to that being an AI robot. Later, he is seen during the battle between Tetsujin and Black Ox. He tells the leader about Black Ox and he reunites Black Ox. Suddenly, he is shot by the leader, who, in turn, is killed afterwards. Franken tells Shikishima to take care of Black Ox as he dies. In one episode, a man impersonates Franken to lure Black Ox but this is a failure when Shotaro and his friends foil his plans and capture him. Additionally, the real Franken appears as a hologram in one of the scenes wherein Prof. Shikishima convinced Black Ox that the Franken it followed was fake. Super Robot Wars Z2 (Saisei Hen) Franken appears briefly in this game wherein he is killed by Branch . At some point, Lorelei tells Shotaro that Franken is able to separate her and her mecha (Danube) after her retreat from Mazinger. This only when Lorelei survived in one scenario in this series. In the 2004 Series His role here is vastly different from before. In the past, Franken was involved in the Tetsujin Project, trying to reanimate corpses. The corpses he and his team received were war victims, which deeply bothered him, especially when one of the corpses turned out to be his adult son Yoshihisa. Franken became obsessed with bringing Yoshihisa back to life, succeeding with a Frankenstein-esque monster, but felt that he shouldn't do God's work. Shikishima orders no one to let Franken meet his monster, as the two have a suicide pact. Kenji Murasame is saved by Franken's monster, after a fight between Tetsujin and Black Ox broke the jailhouse roof. Kenji takes care of the monster, and when they are separated, helps Franken get to the monster without obstruction. In the end, the monster strangles Franken, and Franken shoots the monster. In Other Media Giant Robo (OVA) Franken Von Vogler (sometimes translated as "Folger") was one of the researchers responsible for the creation of the Shizuma Drive, and it appears early on that he caused the Bashtarle Tragedy, which was a massive explosion caused by putting three imperfect Drives together. His son Emmanuel (later Genya) survived with him, while his daughter Farmelle (later Ginrei) teleported herself and Vogler's assistant Professor Go outside the range of disaster. Vogler worked alone in his underground lab, eventually coming to the conclusion that if the entire world used the current Shizuma Drive for ten years, it would cause an accumilation of a chemical in the earth's atmosphere that would drain the world of oxygen. He warned Emmanuel to "stop Shizuma", which was interpreted as a command to destroy every single Drive in the world. Vogler's three Drives, when put together, repair the damage caused by the Shizuma Drive, but only after much carnage is this discovered. Preceeding the Bashtarle Tragedy, Dr. Shizuma had been the one to put the imperfect Drives together, and Vogler was the one who tried to stop the explosion. Gallery Tetsujin 28 (Manga) Tetsujin 28 (1963 anime) New Tetsujin 28 Tetsujin 28 FX Tetsujin 28 (2004 anime) Giant Robo OVA (as Franken von Volger) Super Robot Wars Category:Villains Category:Minor Characters Category:Tetsujin 28 (Manga) Category:Tetsujin 28 (1963) Category:Tetsujin 28 (1980) Category:Tetsujin 28 FX Category:Tetsujin 28 (Imagawa) Category:Tetsujin 28 Gao! Category:Tetsujin 28 (Emperor's Emblem)